Author's notes: Thanks for the review xlostangelx, and I hope you can update your stories soon. It's taking longer between updates because I'm finding it harder to maintain the level of quality, and I don't think I can keep this up for much longer. But I am committed to seeing this through to the finish (at least if I'm not in a plane crash over the holidays. If this isn't updated in a couple weeks, that's probably what happened to me.

Walt struggles to free himself from the mud, and gets an unexpected reaction from Alex.

Holding his breath, Walt extended his hands upwards, pushing the mud away and creating a small hole over his head. He looked up, but saw nothing but darkness. He then moved his arms around, and rotated his head back and forth, creating some breathing space. He pushed away the mud he could around his head, leaving it at the bottom of a little hole. Next, he scooped the mud from around his ears, flinging it as far as he could from his position.

"Walt? Are you there? Are you okay?" A worried Alex had been repeating her questions several times, but only now did her companion hear her.

Walt finally remembered that he could breathe now. "Uh, I'm here, and okay so far, I guess, but am kind of stuck here for the moment. How are you?"

"I sprained my ankle, and can't walk, but I'll be okay. What can I do?"

Walt didn't want to put Alex at risk unnecessarily, and didn't want to be left alone. It might take hours for her to get help, and even then that would be from the Others. There was the possibility of a further collapse in that time. Consequently he replied, "Just keep talking so I know which direction to go." Walt then rocked his body back and forth, side to side, and around and around, creating more space around him while the mud was still wet enough to do so. The sloping walls around him caved in on occasion, and then he would scoop up handfuls or armfuls of mud and flung them in the direction away from Alex's voice. In fifteen minutes Walt was standing chest-deep in a funnel shaped hole, and in another quarter hour he was waist-deep in a larger similarly shaped hole. During this time he and Alex exchanged updates on their conditions. Alex's ankle throbbed quite a bit all the while.

At this point Walt tried to climb out, but his legs were still trapped to such a degree that his hands just clawed down the sides of the hole as he tried to pull himself up. With a significant effort he was able to get up on his tiptoes, temporarily gaining several centimeters, but still lacked the traction to make any more progress. Not being able to stand on tiptoe indefinitely, he was forced to settle back down on his heels in frustration. With nothing else to do, he rocked his hips back and forth, side to side, and around and around, slowly creating space around his ensnared legs. The going was slower as the mud was thicker nearer the floor, but Walt's perseverance didn't wane. His efforts were rewarded when in another half hour he was able to lift one foot off the floor, and then the other.

Walt was still in a hole with pretty steep sides, but now he had some room to maneuver. He reached as high as he could, digging his hands into the muck near the top of the surface, and then raised his left foot as high as possible, bracing it against the wall behind him. Next, with a bit of a jump he brought his right foot up above the left one, bracing it against the wall. The left foot sank in almost sideways to the ankle. Steeling himself, Walt pulled that foot out and lunged forward. This caused his right foot to sink in laterally against the wall, but he had gained enough elevation to stretch his arms forward along the top of the surface, with his chin resting at the edge of the hole. Digging in with his hands, Walt twisted his right foot enough so that the mud released its grip on it. Walt started to slide back down the hole, but with frantic swimming motions and occasionally planting his feet against the back side of the hole, he was able to stay in place, pushing mud in the hole behind him. In a couple of minutes he was not only staying in place, he was making steady progress along the surface since he had pushed enough mud aside. And then he was out, lying on his stomach on top. He excitedly shouted, "Alex, I'm out!"

On the surface, a dim light was visible in the direction of Alex's voice. The light bulbs in the main tunnel were still working. Walt crawled along the surface, keeping his weight distributed so that he wouldn't sink in much. About twenty meters along the surface firmed up some, and he made quicker progress. Looking up, he could see that the ceiling, which he could almost reach at this point, was intact. After another ten meters he tried standing, and while carefully testing each step, was moving right along. With ten meters to go Alex came into view over the edge of the mudslide. Overjoyed at seeing her, Walt rushed toward the end. In his exuberance and relief he forgot all about treading carefully, and his next two steps landed far too heavily, sending him plunging up to his armpits in the mud.

"Oh, no, not again!" thought Walt, who was not at all expecting the mud to be so soft this near the edge, when he was shocked by a totally unexpected sound.

Alex was laughing. He wasn't aware that she could laugh.

"Ha, ha, I'm sorry, but you looked so funny sinking like that – hee, hee – the expression on your face – sorry …".

Initially Walt stood there stunned, but Alex's laughter was contagious. Forgetting about the seriousness of his recent situation, he started laughing just as hard. Then on a whim, he placed his hands on top of the mud and pushed down, as if trying to push himself up and out, but of course that effort just sent his arms down along his sides, leaving just his shoulders and head, accompanied by a large spherical mass of hair, protruding above the surface. He then made an exaggerated show of trying to raise his arms again, shrugging his shoulders, but failing to more than temporarily raise them, acting like he was good and helplessly stuck in the muck. A sullen expression broke out on his face, as if he were devastated by the turn of events. After a second of silence, they both roared harder. Alex laughed so hard she fell over on her side. It was so funny she forgot the pain in her ankle. Both of them were in a state of delirium.

In a couple minutes, Alex crawled up the muddy slope on her hands and knees. "Here let me help you." Her help consisted of scooping up the nearby mud, and plopping it down on Walt's shoulders until they were completely covered. "How's that?"

Walt laughed. "Can't you do better than that?"

"Hah!" In another minute more mud was packed all around Walt's neck. It all felt wonderful. Then Alex remarked, "Aw, look, your hair got all messed up. Let me fix that for you." Over the course of the next several minutes Alex ran her fingers more than two decimeters of bushy hair, removing all the bits and pieces of earth she could and fluffing it up. Satisfied with her effort, she crawled back down the slope. "There, you look much better now."

"Thank you."

For the next several minutes their positions remained unchanged. For the first time in a long time Walt couldn't help himself from grinning. He wouldn't be able to stay like that indefinitely, however, so he eventually asked, "So what happens now?"

"We just tell the Others the truth. There was an explosion, you got buried and stuck in the mud, and it took several hours to get you free."

"It hasn't quite been several hours yet."

"Well, if it does take that long, you get the rest of the day off."

Walt laughed again at Alex's logic. He went along with the gag, turning and twisting his head in another fake attempt to free himself. He concluded, "I guess you're right. I'm stuck here, and you can't help me till your ankle gets better. Looks like I'm in for it for hours. He tried not to smile, but failed miserably. But he succeeded in standing still for another hour. It felt wonderful. Another hour passed, and another, when Walt's stomach started growling. He sighed, and announced, "I guess it's about time to leave and get dinner." Almost reluctantly, he twisted and rocked for real, creating enough space to free his arms.

While Walt was struggling, Alex climbed up the side of the mound again and offered her hands. It still was quite an effort, and took on the characteristics of a bizarre game, but the two contestants thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It took about twenty minutes to free Walt this time. Then they tumbled down the side of the mound for the last time. With Walt finally standing on firm ground, Alex, with an air of mock indignation, made the astute observation,

"Oh, look, you got your clothes all filthy."

Walt laughed again. Somehow getting his loincloth, just referred to as "his clothes," dirty, didn't seem particularly important. But he could play along.

"Sorry about that. If it can't be cleaned completely, will you make me a new one if I help you back?"

While Alex had mostly forgotten about her painful ankle, she still couldn't put any weight on it. "Sounds fair," she replied, as she put her arm around Walt's shoulder, and they walked together to the stream off to the side of the main cave chamber. Walt picked out a long hammer from the tools by the wheelbarrow, that Alex could use as a crutch until the Others gave her a better one. Once at the stream, they practically fell in, taking a long time to wash all the dirt and mud off.

At the end of the day, Alex related the day's events to the Others just as she had told Walt she would, and did get a real crutch for her damaged ankle. But more importantly, Walt had complete trust in Alex. Having helped save his life earned her that much, and Walt admitted this to her at dinner. They could start planning for a rescue or escape together. However, these plans would be easier to implement only after Alex's ankle had healed. They would have to wait some more, but felt better about their situation.